Archive for December, 2013

Sales of high-priced cigarettes are expected to be hardest hit by the enforcement of a ban on China’s government officials smoking in public and giving and receiving cigarettes as gifts. According to a story by Yang Jing for the Global Times, the General Office of the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee and the State […]

Cigarette companies in Indonesia are preparing for the implementation of new regulations that restrict tobacco advertisements and require the inclusion of graphic warnings on cigarette packs, according to a story in The Jakarta Post. The tobacco control regulations were issued by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in December 2012 and are set to take effect in […]

The UK’s Department of Health (DoH) is reigniting its turn-of-the-year anti-smoking campaign with a £3 million push designed to provoke ‘disgust’ among television viewers, according to a story by Lara O’Reilly in Marketing Week. This year’s ‘smokefree’ initiative from the DoH’s executive body, Public Health England, includes the ‘new news’ that smoking can be linked […]

US-based Ploom has warned that counterfeit versions of its Pax vaporizers can raise safety issues, according to a ChinaCSR.com story. Ploom’s vaporizers are smoking alternative devices that heat tobacco contained in pods to a constant temperature, vaporizing nicotine and flavors without burning the materials or producing smoke. But Ploom says that certain counterfeit Pax products […]

A senator in the US state of Wisconsin is sponsoring legislation that would make it clear that electronic cigarettes are not included in the state’s tobacco smoking ban, according to a WSAU report. Glenn Grothman said the purpose of electronic cigarettes was to get people to stop using traditional cigarettes, which was something the state […]

Taipei’s Department of Health has designated 27 bus stops along the Xinyi Road, one of the city’s busiest, as areas where tobacco smoking is due to be banned from next month, according to a story in the Taipei Times. The bans are said by the TaipeiCity government to be in accordance with the Tobacco Hazards […]

As the United Arab Emirates prepares to implement its Anti-Tobacco Law on January 21, one health official has said that she has been in talks with the National Media Council (NMC) to prevent indirect promotion of tobacco through newspaper articles, according to a story in the Khaleej Times. Dr. Wedad Al Maidoor, head of […]

Anyone caught smoking tobacco on China’s high-speed trains will be fined up to Yuan2,000 ($330) as of January 1, according to a story by Wang Fan for Ecns.cn, quoting a railway safety regulation issued by the State Council. But smokers won’t be the only people in the firing line. Fines of up to Yuan2,000 will […]

The Tobacco Board of India has reverted to an earlier estimate and again announced that flue-cured auctions in Karnataka are likely to be finished by the end of January, according to a story in the latest issue of the BBM Bommidala Group newsletter. The Board previously had suggested that the auctions would end in January, […]

New rules that will come into force on January 1 will restrict the number of cigarettes that may be brought into Ireland for personal use by people traveling from Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania, according to a story in the Irish Independent. From that date, travelers from those countries will be allowed to […]

Israel has joined an international protocol aimed at preventing the illegal trade in tobacco products, according to a story by Judy Siegel-Itzkovich for the Jerusalem Post, quoting the Health Ministry. The country’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, signed the protocol, which is an adjunct to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco […]

Japan Tobacco International employees worldwide have been asked to make donations to a fund set up to help the victims of typhoon Haiyan, which struck the Philippines early in November. JTI has agreed to match any donations made by its employees. Typhoon Haiyan, or Yolanda as it is known in the Philippines, made landfall there […]

Pierre de Labouchere last week resigned with immediate effect as president and CEO of Japan Tobacco International, according to a story by Mark Kleinman for Sky News. Kleinman quoted a statement issued on Friday by a JTI spokesman as saying that de Labouchere had decided to resign as of December 18. The statement said that […]

Japan Tobacco Inc. has announced that on-line sales of Ploom vaporizers started today through the Ploom Online Shop operated by JT Creative Service. Originally, the start date for on-line sales had been set as December 12, but it was delayed at the last minute because of technical difficulties. The Ploom vaporizer is a pocket-sized smoking […]

Flue-cured tobacco auctions in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh are expected to start on February 15, according to a story in the latest edition of the BBM Bommidala Group newsletter. The chairman of the Tobacco Board, Koothati Gopal, was quoted as saying that the sales were due to start simultaneously on all auction floors. […]

Cigarette excise payments in the Philippines during the first nine months of this year, at P61.6 billion, were almost double what they were during the first nine months of 2012, according to a story in The Philippine Star. In a briefing given on Friday, revenue commissioner Kim Henares said excise tax payments by alcohol and […]

Advisers to Ireland’s Joint Committee on Health and Children have said there is no legal impediment to tobacco industry representatives giving evidence at hearings on proposed standard-packaging legislation, according to a story in the Irish Independent. Hearings, which are scheduled for the New Year, will be crucial to the progress of the Tobacco Plain Packaging […]

Eastern Tobacco, Egypt’s monopoly cigarette producer, says that a new tax stamp that is being introduced is aimed only at reducing the black market in cigarettes and will not lead to a price increase, according to an Al-Ahram story. Local cigarette prices have risen significantly during the past few years as taxes have been increased […]

A new electronic cigarette developed in France allows users to monitor data about their vaping through mobile devices such as telephones and tablets, according to a story in the Jagran Post, India, quoting Gizmag. The Smokio is said to use Bluetooth to connect to the user’s electronic device and thereby allow the download of a […]

Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson has said that he will continue to do everything possible to defend local jobs in Japan Tobacco International’s Gallaher plant at Ballymena, Northern Ireland, according to a story in the Antrim Times. Nicholson’s comments come as representatives of the European Parliament, Council and European Commission agreed to a compromise in […]